Welcome to the HLW Newsletter which provides accurate facts to enhance your knowledge. Enjoy the Recipe and Wellbeing Tips of the Month and see Upcoming Events. Send your questions about pain, nutrition, exercise, or research. I exist to help you Have LifeLong WellBeing!

This edition will focus on Obesity. Struggling with excess weight has become epidemic and age is no longer a factor as younger and younger children are seen to have serious weight issues. Are you aware that children who are overweight rate their quality of life as being similar to children who have cancer?! I say serious weight issues because this is not about judging, or even looks, it’s about health related issues. The list of negative health issues related to obesity is staggering! The most important being increased mortality risk. Yes, increased mortality! This means there is a higher death rate among people who are obese or overweight.

There are many studies showing this relationship. Here is one that looked at 102,400 women and followed them for 12 years. If they were overweight at age 18 and at beginning of follow-up there was seen significantly increased risk of total mortality and mortality from cardiovascular disease. Another study of BMI (body mass index) and all-cause mortality in 527,265 adults aged 50-71 with 10 years of follow-up saw being overweight associated with 20-40% increase in mortality and obesity associated with 2- 3-fold increase (200-300%!) compared to those with BMI of 23 to 24.9. There is also an association between waist circumference and mortality. Each 10% increase in WC = 36% increase in mortality in men and 30% increase in women. I believe that premature death should shake us awake, don’t you think? On the flip side 6391 overweight and obese people 35 or older were studied and those who intentionally lost weight had a 24% lower mortality rate AND regardless of weight change, those who at least tried to lose weight had lower mortality compared to those who made no effort! Yay for effort!!

While there are so many complex issues involved in why obesity is epidemic in our world today, I want to shed light on what appears to be the most impactful.

Let’s look at wrong information first. There are so many fad diets that claim success you would wonder why anyone would have any excess weight if even 10% of them were true! The fact of the matter is that pretty much ALL of these diets are not what is needed to achieve good health, even if they do lead to weight loss. You cannot maintain your life on tiny portions, calorie counting, low or NO carbs, etc. If you have taken my Nourish Your Body Series you have learned how your stretch and nutrient receptors need to be happy, so you need to fill your stomach AND nourish your body to be satiated and healthy. Eating the right foods multiple times each day and NOT skipping meals is what brings healthy weight.

Yo-yo dieting sabotages your body as most diets do not provide enough food for your body to function properly so your metabolism drops like a rock! You now need less and less to maintain and you end up gaining weight! The good news is that your metabolism can restore itself to an optimal level with the right nourishment and physical activity. It will take some time but it will happen.

Our high-tech world has provided so much convenience that we no longer need to do anything physical in life. Buttons are everywhere, escalators, elevators, appliances that vacuum for us, shopping delivery services for everything under the sun, and the list goes on. We go from sitting in our car to our desk- back in our car to our couch. There is little to no physical activity required to live life anymore. Getting exercise is an absolute necessity and those who engage in exercise AND have a normal weight live the longest.

Accessibility can be a nightmare for those wanting to lose weight. There are countless restaurants that will deliver just about anything you could want right to your door and no one knows. If you eat a salad in front of friends/family and then hit the drive thru on the way home you know exactly what I mean. This leads us to the most complex of all; emotional issues.

When you relate food to love (mom’s cooking) or comfort (ice cream when upset) or reward (cookies for good grades) eating becomes a way to manage emotions, not just nourishment. When you binge eat until you are ready to throw up you are using food to not deal with emotions. I am not writing this lightly. There is real heartbreak out there. I have led a support group since 1999 for women who have been abused. I want to help others be set free from pain in any way I can.

Wellness Forum Health has a Permanent weight loss program, a plan for the rest of your life. You will learn new strategies through specific activities designed to change your way of thinking about food and ultimately to change your eating behaviors so that you can enjoy eating without guilt or fear. This program will also teach you how to get others to help you, how to stay motivated for the long term and learn some delicious recipes that will keep you excited about eating well. Includes CD’s that teach 24 key concepts and how to apply them easily to your daily life, a detailed 24-module workbook for note taking, journaling, and to keep you on track, and two 2-hour live conference calls per month for one full year for discussion and problem solving.

Call 518-496-1265. You deserve a long, healthy life!

HLW Recipe of the Month: Raw Apple Crumble

It’s apple season! This is a perfect way to enjoy a bountiful harvest of those crisp, delicious apples. No cooking required and you won’t believe the flavor. It’s absolutely decadent! Enjoy!

Topping: Blend the walnuts and 4 dates in a food processor until the texture is a little smaller than Grape Nuts. Spoon into a small bowl and set aside.

Filling: Toss the 3 peeled, sliced and diced apples with 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and set aside in a bowl. Next, in the food processor, blend the remaining 2 apples, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, 6 pitted dates, raisins, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Toss this mixture with the sliced apples.

Serve: Place one-fourth of the apple filling into a small dessert dish and sprinkle with date-nut topping.

HLW Tip of the Month: Start Over-Again!

Hosting the monthly Advanced Nutrition class has shown time and time again that there are many who struggle to succeed. This is in spite of knowing what to do. It’s the how that’s difficult for many and for the rest it’s the why. Let’s start with the how. Whenever you are presented with something that is new or different you may experience a knee jerk reaction that says, “How on earth can I do that? It’s too much work. It’s too hard. No one in my family will want to do that! It costs too much. It takes too much time.” And the list goes on and on.

My personality always goes for the figuring out HOW to get it done. My hubbie always sees why it CAN’T be done. Opposites do attract! If you are a ‘see the obstacles’ kind of person what will help is understanding why you are doing something, which leads us to the why issue.

If your why is not strong enough or defined specifically it may be difficult to stay on track with your health goals. Fuzzy goals like I want to lose weight won’t be 1/10th as powerful as I want to lose 20 pounds by December 30th so I can look and feel better for my daughter’s wedding. You get the idea. Then break it into smaller chunks. Today I will eat 5 meals that consist of tasty carbs (potatoes, whole grains, legumes), lots of veggies, and some fruit. I will drink at least 64 ounces of water. I will feel satisfied all day. I will not go hungry. The dairy, oils, and high fat foods will destroy my goal so I will not go there. (remember that cheese is ~70% FAT and mostly saturated) Focus on what you will be eating and doing, not what you know will sabotage your success.

I want to share my own challenges with reaching goals. Yes, I am like a bull with horns when I hear the word challenge; yet I have the same fear of failure that lives in most people. I have had to start again in many areas of my life. I didn’t go to college until I was thirty and I was a single mom!! What is important for you to understand is that starting over is a GOOD thing. It means you haven’t quit or given up! You still have hope you will succeed!

So get out a piece of paper and a pencil or pull up your laptop and start writing why you want to change your life for the better. Why do you want to eliminate your need for medications? Why do you want to wake up feeling refreshed? Why do you want to lose weight? Why do you want to eliminate pain?